"As Teacher, I Merely Encourage, Package & Summarize Knowledge; Students Do the Other 95%"
Posted: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
by Jeff Brown
Inner Projection
I once had a student tell me that she really liked my teaching style that it was very informative, entertaining, and engaging; however, she said, "You really didn't teach us how to write."
I responded by saying, "95% of it is your job. As teacher, I merely encourage, package and summarize knowledge; students do the rest."
What is often misunderstood by the average consumer of education is the teacher's or institution's level of involvement in the student's learning or acquisition of knowledge. Institutions (k-12 and college / university) certainly are responsible for distributing knowledge, but teachers, considering the teacher to student ratio, don't have the time to sit down with each student to ensure success. I remember the majority of my professors in college had office hours but rarely encouraged us to drop by; after all, they were extremely busy.
This is the sad truth, especially for high school teachers who generally have over 100 students, daily lesson plans, meetings to attend, 100s of papers to grade (I estimate that I read 5,000 pages / semester as a college professor) and a life to live if there's any time left over. During the school year, for the dedicated teacher, that doesn't happen often. Consider that 3 out of 5 teachers use teaching as a stepping stone to other careers, you can see the pressure, work, and low pay pushing most to avoid the profession.
Regardless, this is not about the teaching profession per say, but rather about the greater need to teach students to be self-accountable for their education during their school years and certainly after. For what is a student to do in today's economy that demands he or she to be prepared for 3 to 5 careers (some experts say as much as 10 career changes in one's working years), go back to college every five to six years for another degree?
No, of course not.
It has always been true that the greatest performers have been self-taught. Those who perform at peak levels in the various disciplines certainly have coaches, attend seminars and training classes, engage in master mind groups, but ultimately the majority of insight and understanding comes from the hours put in by the individual. Once again, teachers and institutions are there to group and summarize knowledge for ease of ingestion and to inspire and motivate, but the brunt of the work comes down to that of the student.
And shouldn't it be that way?
Consider that on average half of our existence, if not more, we are working. And it is imperative that we keep our skills up to date and that we continue to gain knowledge, skills and attitudes--two things that are vital to success that are missing in the education of most coming from formal more knowledge and theory based systems. But as a counter point, many of the business gurus I learn from and work with often refer to avoiding academics, for they are good at theory but lack practical knowledge, especially if they have little to no hands-on business experience. Being an academic, I too see the problem. Oftentimes academics go too deep down a sliver of a niche, entertained and enraptured by theory that is often not practical, vague and esoteric and difficult to decipher never mind apply to the real world. Consider Steven Hawking's (our modern day Einstein) remarks about abstract physics; he stated that many of the theories of such scientists are based more in fantasy than fact.
Getting back to the issue at hand, however, students have always needed to learn how to learn, think, analyze and synthesize acquired knowledge with personal experience and that of others, infer, and deduce, but such skills are becoming a lost art. It is not emphasized in school and, unfortunately, too infrequently emphasized in colleges and universities.
Some of our greatest thinkers learned how to think, observe, analyze, infer, deduce, synthesize the majority of time via their own efforts: Benjamin Franklin, Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, Einstein. However, one does not need to be a genius or leader of considerable presense to use such skills, but in today's competitive global job market, along with high cost of living and dwindling savings rates, more than ever students must learn how to be self-educating for their sakes and the sake of a healthy nation, even world.
I responded by saying, "95% of it is your job. As teacher, I merely encourage, package and summarize knowledge; students do the rest."
What is often misunderstood by the average consumer of education is the teacher's or institution's level of involvement in the student's learning or acquisition of knowledge. Institutions (k-12 and college / university) certainly are responsible for distributing knowledge, but teachers, considering the teacher to student ratio, don't have the time to sit down with each student to ensure success. I remember the majority of my professors in college had office hours but rarely encouraged us to drop by; after all, they were extremely busy.
Regardless, this is not about the teaching profession per say, but rather about the greater need to teach students to be self-accountable for their education during their school years and certainly after. For what is a student to do in today's economy that demands he or she to be prepared for 3 to 5 careers (some experts say as much as 10 career changes in one's working years), go back to college every five to six years for another degree?
No, of course not.
It has always been true that the greatest performers have been self-taught. Those who perform at peak levels in the various disciplines certainly have coaches, attend seminars and training classes, engage in master mind groups, but ultimately the majority of insight and understanding comes from the hours put in by the individual. Once again, teachers and institutions are there to group and summarize knowledge for ease of ingestion and to inspire and motivate, but the brunt of the work comes down to that of the student.
And shouldn't it be that way?
Consider that on average half of our existence, if not more, we are working. And it is imperative that we keep our skills up to date and that we continue to gain knowledge, skills and attitudes--two things that are vital to success that are missing in the education of most coming from formal more knowledge and theory based systems. But as a counter point, many of the business gurus I learn from and work with often refer to avoiding academics, for they are good at theory but lack practical knowledge, especially if they have little to no hands-on business experience. Being an academic, I too see the problem. Oftentimes academics go too deep down a sliver of a niche, entertained and enraptured by theory that is often not practical, vague and esoteric and difficult to decipher never mind apply to the real world. Consider Steven Hawking's (our modern day Einstein) remarks about abstract physics; he stated that many of the theories of such scientists are based more in fantasy than fact.
Getting back to the issue at hand, however, students have always needed to learn how to learn, think, analyze and synthesize acquired knowledge with personal experience and that of others, infer, and deduce, but such skills are becoming a lost art. It is not emphasized in school and, unfortunately, too infrequently emphasized in colleges and universities.
Some of our greatest thinkers learned how to think, observe, analyze, infer, deduce, synthesize the majority of time via their own efforts: Benjamin Franklin, Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, Einstein. However, one does not need to be a genius or leader of considerable presense to use such skills, but in today's competitive global job market, along with high cost of living and dwindling savings rates, more than ever students must learn how to be self-educating for their sakes and the sake of a healthy nation, even world.
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Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)I taught english to high school and junior college students for 35 years and feel that overcrowded(40 pupils) H.S. classes were stultifying and utterly self defeating.When the public understands this,things may change in public educatioonYes, no wonder that our largest states Texas, NY, and CA have a graduation rate of 50% and that some of the largest counties like Los Angeles only have 11% go on to college. Much needs to be done beyond lip service to some vague "no child left behind" ideal. Thanks for the experienced comment.
Great read Jeff! As a college/university professor I agree 100% with you. The word educate is from Latin word educatus, which means to draw out (as from a well) --- most of what we call education is putting in not pulling out. Wonderful article Jeff!Yes, love it. I was just telling a class full of students the other day that the cause for failure in education is not enough student focused attention to draw out skills, abilities, and strengths to determine where they function at optimum capacity. And once that is accomplished, students can determine where they have to look for knowledge, skills, ability to enhance them. It all comes from the inside.
Great article Jeff. Good points made as well, and thanks for sharing it. I had to tag as a favorite (smile).Thanks for reading, and thanks for the vote of confidence (fav. article ;=)
Very good article, Jeff. Somehow the parents have placed it into the child's mind that if they do not learn, it is the teacher. Sadly, somehwere the parent has forgotten that one cannot teach the child, the child learn. You are right, you can only encourage. I know you are correct because I am looking from the Juvenile Probation arena and the CPS (Children Protective Services) arenaYes, humans, including children, our youth, will not do that which they don't want to do; therefore, we must encourage a student-center education--k-12 and college. Thanks for reading / commenting.
Good info Jeff, as usual. So it goes with just about anything, you have to give your all to something if you want all out of it. Thanks for these great tips and points! Blessings to you, TeresaThanks, Teresa. So much entitlement with no effort today. It's got to stop. Work is and always has been the answer, as well as self-accountability.
If only all teachers thought as you. Another excellent article, Jeff. Very well-done.Thanks Mike. Appreciate the comment.
Great article. Well done.I agree with what you say. A teacher is important to learning but I would never have passed many exams with out doing work on the side.Yes, about 3/5th of my students attribute their failure or success based on teachers performance. I understand that coming from an uninformed perspective. But it is vital that students learn early and often from parents personal accountability for one's education. Thanks Connor. And I'm not surprised by your response, you're of the 2/5th who get it.
Very readable article. I did well when the professor was a good lecturer - sometimes the text was confusing. sometimes the teacher KNEW his subject but absolutely couldn't communicate with the class (higher algebra I am remembering) We all have to and need to learn and DO good stydy habits too but is that taught anymore? Enjoyed reading your piece. MarijoThanks. Yes, good teachers certainly help, but so many don't understand the nuances of teaching that will best aid the student in learning those things that go beyond fact and mere academic theory to transferable and practical knowledge, attitudes, and skills.
For a minute there I thought I was listening to my husband, (who is a high school teacher). Proud to say he is one of the dedicated teachers who is available to students during lunch, after school, helps them find co-op placements so they can learn by doing, the list goes on. He knows it's impossible to help or teach each student individually, so he attempts to teach them to 'help' themselves. Once they understand that no one can 'do it for them', they develop the skills to do it themselves. Very good article Jeff. You hit the nail on the head!Yup, sad state of affairs entitlement is. Not good for anyone. Thanks for the comment.
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